I bought 5/4 White Hard Maple (at a premium price) from a lumber store. I have included a picture of some of that lumber showing how the faces are nice and white but the center of the board is a distinctly tan color.

I make roll top slats from this wood by ripping (bandsaw) the 5/4 board into strips 7/8” wide. I then tip the strips and plane them to ¾” thickness. This forms the blank I then use to make roll top slats, 5/4 by ¾”. I then shape the ¾” edge to my profile (shaper) followed by slicing (bandsaw) off a slat approximately 3/8” thick. This first slat will be white and the next two that follow are tan, thus my complaint. This method allows me to have a slat with face grain, not quarter sawn grain.

From this wood I get white, tan tan, from each blank. This makes my roll top look unmatched for color.

18 replies so far

what you have is the leading edge of the heart of the tree, on maple it can go from the tan you see to a darker brown and sometimes green, a good way to be sure you are getting the white material is to carry a small hand plane to the mill and lightly plane areas to be sure its white, the only way I know to lighten the heart wood is to bleach it using the 2 part wood bleach here is a good article to understand bleach and its hazards http://antiquerestorers.com/Articles/SAL/Bleach.htm

you have to check, even the best of grades allow for some off color and defects on one face , thus the FAS grade meaning First and seconds .. its the seconds thing that the issue

That link is dead. I prefer rough but this was surfaced. I pick up my lumber.

Buying the rolltops ready made would dis-qualify me from exhibiting in the fine craft arena. I would also loose all creativity in the selection of figure for special patterns I want to achieve. I would not have choices in profiles and sizes.

I went through the same thing. I build lots of maple cabinets and notice, which i like, a pinkish, almost skintone color. I understand its just the tree it came from. Some may have come from the outter portions of tree while other pieces come from the inner areas. I understand your frustration and my projects are different, but the color alterations actually look ok. I also didnt like the little black specs that tend to show in soft maple, but in a finished project, its nice. Its just the tree.

Again, just spitballing… maybe moisture content? If these new boards aren’t properly dry, the center could be wetter than the edges. If you run a handplane lightly over the board, does the tan disappear, or does it go all the way through the board?

The tan is in the center of the board. Edges and faces are nice and white.

I like the idea of changing with time. But the future owner won’t be concerned with how it looks in ten years and will base the purchase decision on how it looks now. I will stick to my story that it is my design decision to use the wood as it fell from the board.

I can’t wait until I get over this fetish for pure white hard maple finished with clear waterborn urethane. I have had it ever since several people commented on a previous desk’s color; “I have never seen maple that didn’t have that yellow color cast”.

I just milled 3 Hard Maple logs yesterday. The first board off of the log is solid white then you start to get into the heartwood. This tree the heartwood is dark and as it drys it will most likely turn to a grey color. All trees will be a little different. The only way to get solid white is to buy boards that have been sorted for them being white but you also will pay more for them.